“Me?” he asks in surprise. “Why do you ask?”
“Because you are going to have to share your sire’s attentions now. Did she explain that to you?” I ask. I don’t mean to sound like I am stirring the pot, but he is still Cole and I feel like I need to be sure he will be okay.
“Yes, she did. I know how she will be with him. I am more concerned about her husband,” he says with a frown.
“Does he know about you yet?” I ask, so curious my fingertips are itching.
“No,” he says. “Not yet. Liv hasn’t spoken to him since she arrived here. Something to do with her father.”
“What about my father?” Aefre asks as she exits the bathroom. “Why are you discussing that bastard?”
“Bastard?” I repeat in surprise. “You don’t care for Drake?”
“Care for?” she scoffs. “I hate him.”
“What? How can you say that?” I ask.
She marches towards me. “You mean to say you actually like him?” she sneers in disgust.
“I love him,” I say. “As he loves me.”
“Hah!” she cries. “He is a mean, selfish, bully. He will show you his true colors.”
“I’ve already seen them,” I say. “Yes, he can be all of those things, but I have seen his caring side. He is protective and loving. Your Drake must have those qualities,” I insist.
“Not towards me,” she pouts, and I can see that it bothers her.
I frown at her. “You don’t stand up to him, do you?” I ask incredulously. “You let him push you around!”
“You know nothing!” she hisses at me, but I see it plain as day. She is terrified of him.
“A word of advice, Aefre. Next time you see him, don’t let him bully you. Stand up to him, amuse him, be snarky, clever and sarcastic and I am telling you he will eat it up,” I say to her.
She goes pale. “No, I…how do you know?”
“Because I have come across men like Drake my entire life. All menacing and terrifying and Hell on a stick. Your sire is one of them,” I point to her. “How did you tame him?”
“Tame him?” she says. “What on Earth makes you say that?”
“I have spent time with him, remember? He worships you, adores you,” I say.
She growls as she remembers my time spent with her husband. “I didn’t manipulate him,” she says.
“Sure you didn’t,” I say with a laugh. “You underestimate the power you have over men, Aefre. Didn’t you see it in my World?”
“I am not like you,” she states with digni
ty.
I must admit that, no, she probably isn’t. As much as I am not like Other Liv. We are all carbon copies of one another in looks and even sometimes in life, but we all have very different traits.
“If you try with him, you will appreciate him,” I say as a final piece of advice. “I wouldn’t be without my father now for the world.”
She takes that in, but Devon wakes up, so she doesn’t respond. She goes to him and coos, soothingly. She introduces him to Cole, and it is past time that I leave. This is their family unit, not mine, and I am intruding now. I have done enough of that in her life and I don’t ever want to return to this World again.
“Be well, Aefre,” I say to her as she leads Devon to the bathroom. “Take care of your boys.”
She blinks at me and with a swift nod, she replies, “You too,” before she turns back and I Astral home.